Mum of murdered teen Holly Newton says CCTV was like 'horror movie' as ex-boyfriend jailed for her murder
1 November 2024, 11:50 | Updated: 6 February 2025, 12:40
The mum of Holly Newton, who was murdered in Hexham last January, says watching the CCTV of her death was like watching a horror movie.
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The 15-year-old schoolgirl was stabbed to death in an alleyway by her ex-boyfriend Logan MacPhail – she suffered 36 injuries.
He also stabbed a teenage boy who intervened to try to stop the attack.
He has now been detained at His Majesty's Pleasure, which is the youth equivalent of a life sentence. He will have to serve a minimum of 17 years.
CCTV showed him wearing a snood and a baseball cap and ducking out of sight as he followed Holly and her friends around the town centre.
The prosecution said MacPhail did not accept that their 18-month relationship was over.
Logan MacPhail and Holly Newton entering alleyway in Hexham before he murdered her
'Horror movie'
Speaking about watching the CCTV footage in court, Holly’s mum Micala Trussler said: “[It was] very, very upsetting.
"But also it's like I've always said, it's like watching a horror movie and you know the ending, you can't change it.”
Micala has also detailed his obsessive behaviour towards Holly before her murder, saying he told her daughter if he couldn’t have her then no-one could.
Holly’s mum added: “He didn't like her to go out. He didn't want her to go out with her friends.
"He needed to know where she was all the time, even if she was just at home. He wanted to know what she was doing.
“He changed her passwords on all of her social media. So she was quite upset about that because she couldn't get into any of it.
"There was just a lot of controlling behaviour going on.”
Logan MacPhail following Holly and friends
The night before he murdered Holly, he travelled 40 miles from his home in Gateshead to hers in Haltwhistle, Northumberland, where he hung around for hours.
On the day of the murder, the defendant - who was diagnosed with autism - followed her around Hexham town centre for about 45 minutes as she visited shops with friends.
She had told a friend just hours before he stabbed her that he was “basically stalking her.”
MacPhail asked to speak to her after he saw her outside a pizza shop, then attacked her with a knife he was carrying.
He denied murder but admitted manslaughter, claiming he blacked out - but this was rejected by the jury.
The court previously heard how Holly's mother had been so concerned on the day she was killed that she contacted police about the then 16-year-old boy, who was known to her daughter, and it was agreed that Holly should not leave school if the youth was outside.
When asked if Northumbria Police could have done more, Detective Sergeant Darren Davies said nobody could have reasonably foreseen what was going to happen.
Holly’s death can’t be logged as domestic violence because she is under 16.
However, Micala says she will now campaign to change the law and told the court this is a “clear case of domestic abuse”.
DS Davies said: “The victim has to be 16 or at the time of the passing, so it didn't hit the criteria for that review. But in terms of the circumstances it's absolutely a domestic murder in my eyes.”
He added: “Whether it's familial or not, it needs to be recorded accurately and whatever steps that need to be done to make that happen absolutely should be taken.”
